Overview

Referer spoofing is typically done for data privacy reasons, in testing, or in order to request information which some web servers may only supply in response to requests with specific HTTP referers.

To improve their privacy, individual browserusers may replace accurate referer data with inaccurate data, though many simply suppress their browser's sending of any referer data. Sending no referrer information is not technically spoofing, though sometimes also described as such.

In software, systems and networks testing, and sometimes penetration testing, referer spoofing is often just part of a larger procedure of transmitting both accurate and inaccurate and both expected and unexpected input to the HTTPD system being tested and observing the results.

Overview

Referer spoofing is typically done for data privacy reasons, in testing, or in order to request information which some web servers may only supply in response to requests with specific HTTP referers.

To improve their privacy, individual browserusers may replace accurate referer data with inaccurate data, though many simply suppress their browser's sending of any referer data. Sending no referrer information is not technically spoofing, though sometimes also described as such.

In software, systems and networks testing, and sometimes penetration testing, referer spoofing is often just part of a larger procedure of transmitting both accurate and inaccurate and both expected and unexpected input to the HTTPD system being tested and observing the results.